Elbow room atop the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament is hard to find after yokozuna Hakuho and Kakuryu pulled even with No. 13 maegashira Aoiyama on Friday for a three-way lead in Osaka.
Aoiyama's stint as the sole leader ended in the blink of an eye against No. 9 maegashira Takanosho.
The burly Bulgarian (11-2), seeking his first championship in the makuuchi division, wasn't able to muster a push off the tachiai and made the mistake of going backward.
Once on the bales, he had no answers as Takanosho (10-3) pushed him out of the ring and into a tie for the top spot.
In the final matchup of the day, Hakuho (11-2) latched onto sekiwake Asanoyama (10-3) and bulldozed the sekiwake toward the bales.
Hakuho, sumo's all-time winningest wrestler, kept his balance before gathering his strength for a final thrust that finished off Asanoyama.
In the penultimate bout, yokozuna Kakuryu notched his 11th victory by taking care of struggling Takakeisho (6-7), the lone ozeki at the basho.
The yokozuna kept the ozeki away from his belt after the jump-off and eventually pushed Takakeisho out.
No. 3 maegashira Mitakeumi (10-3) stayed one loss off the leaders by forcing out No. 7 maegashira Takarafuji (8-5).
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